Starbucks barista reveals truth behind why they always get your name wrong on orders

A Starbucks barista has explained why staff at the coffee giant often get customers' names wrong on orders.

It's a practice which has become a longstanding joke - someone gives their name as Kate, only for the barista to call out 'we got a flat white for Kurt!'

Now someone has revealed the truth about why cups so often have an incorrect name on them, and it's probably not what you think.

People already had plenty of theories as to why this happens quite so often, as surely it can't be a coincidence, right?

Getting your name wrong on the cup is almost part of the experience (James Leynse/Getty)

Sharing their own speculation on Reddit, one Starbucks fan wrote: "So I full heartedly believe that they spell or say your name wrong in Starbucks as it happens so often its a well known meme that they cannot spell. I think this is purposeful.

"Every time they spell a name wrong someone posts it and it is free advertising."

But it turns out that this rumour about it being a marketing strategy is, in fact, just a rumour.

One former employee at the chain dropped into the comments to share that, as can sometimes be the case, the explanation may actually be far simpler.

Starbucks outlets are, of course, very busy and loud environments, and baristas work long shifts. And it seems sometimes those factors combine to mean that they genuinely just don't hear correctly.

There might be more to the practice than you would think (Ivan Zhaborovskiy/Getty)

"Used to work at Starbucks, we often can't hear you super clearly and it's easier to just write something close to what we heard than to ask again, especially when we're trying to take orders as fast as possible," the former staffer explained.

"People can usually pick up their drinks anyway since there are enough variations that there won't be two of the same thing."

Another ex-employee also revealed that they write names on the cup not as a marketing ploy, but to make sure they don't mix up orders - particularly when allergies are involved.

They wrote: "It's actually to make sure nobody's orders are mixed up, in particular in the case of allergies and intolerances. A soy latte could be easily mistook for a regular latte or some other allergen so presumably labelling cups and calling names should lower the chances. However, there's always some numpty that asks if every drink is theirs."